familymattersfandomcom-20200216-history
Straight A's
Straight A's is the fifth episode of the first season in this television sitcom on Family Matters, which was aired from ABC on October 20, 1989. It was directed by John Bowab and written both by Geoff Gordon and Gordon Lewis. Plot On report card day, Eddie is expecting the worst, Laura is expecting nothing but the best and Carl might be expecting too much from Eddie when Carl sees straight A's on Eddie's report card. What Carl and Eddie don't know is that Eddie's friend Rodney Beckett got into the school records and made a fake report card to make Eddie look good. How will Eddie break the news to his family when he finds out? Synopsis Laura and Judy are doing homework in the kitchen, while Rachel is coloring in Richie's color books. When she shows off her coloring skills, the two aren't impressed. Laura points out that she went over the lines again and of which Judy agrees with. Carl comes inside the kitchen and is angry with Eddie. He reports to the family that he caught Eddie pretending to study by leaving the TV on and listening to the radio on his boom box. He tells Harriette that they need to something with his studying skills(or lack thereof). Laura asks if Carl wants any of her suggestions. Harriette silences her by reminding her to do her homework. She then tells Carl that Eddie has just began high school and he's trying to adjust. Harriette mentions that last week it took him three hours to settle on a three ring binder. Carl pointed out that he made the mistake of buying two-hole paper. He is concerned that Eddie isn't going to make it in high school with that kind of behavior. On report card day, Eddie is expecting the worst and Laura is expecting nothing but the best. Judy is happy when she gets 2 As and 3 Bs and a good payment. Laura is happy at first when she believes she has gotten all A's. However, she's upset when Carl mentions that one of her grades is a B on her history class. He might be expecting too much from Eddie when he sees straight A's on Eddie's report card. Laura is in disbelief over this because even she knows he's not good at studying unlike her. What no one knows is that Eddie's practical jokester best friend, Rodney, got into the school records and made a fake report card to make him look good via his home computer in his room. The real report cards doesn't come out until tomorrow, revealed during his visit to Eddie's room. This becomes a conflict over whether he should tell Carl the truth or not. Harriette previously warned Rodney not to pull any more pranks involving him putting saran wrap on the toilet again. Laura is still bummed over that one B in her class. Harriette tries to convince her it's still a passing grade, but she's not listening. Laura mentions her dreams to get into a top law-school university like Harvard. Rachel tries to talk to her about letting it go. She mentions the got into a good college despite not making as good of grades as Harriette and Laura did. Harriette mentions she made the wrong calculation on the chocolate chips for the cookies and has to toss them out. Laura claims they look fine to her until she figures out that it was just Harriette's way of trying to get her to forget about that B. Eddie is real bummed over how Carl isn't listening to him and buying him presents such as a computer. He goes out into the back porch. Rachel happens to see him there and decides to talk to him. It's there Eddie finally confesses to her about Rodney's prank and doesn't know what to do. He comes up with two options: either study harder to bring his grades up. Rachel asks Eddie what his other option is and he reluctantly tells her that he should tell the truth. She admits that she likes that plan, but he's not sure. Eddie admits he's afraid to tell Carl because he will yell at him like he always does if he found out his grades were not as good as he thought. Rachel encourages him to do so and admits that he's a lot brighter than what Laura gives him credit for. Eddie finally tells Carl and Harriette the truth about Rodney's prank. He even shows them his real report card with has 4 B's and 2 C's. Carl overreacted by mentioning that there are no A's on his report card. Eddie believes he has disappointed Carl again with his report card and leaves, believing he is stupid. After he walks upstairs into his room, Carl realizes he had hurt his feelings and realizes he was the stupid one for overreacting. Carl comes inside Eddie's room to apologize for his earlier behavior. He mentions he knows it wasn't easy for Eddie to do the right thing and confess to his report card. He isn't convinced because he had been looking forward to bragging about his straight A's to Laura over the weekend and had wanted to go to school to brag on Monday Morning. Thanks to Rodney, Eddie feels stupid once more. Carl tells him that he's not stupid at all. He may be a bit undisciplined when it comes to studying but he's a bright young man. Plus, Eddie brought home his best report card Carl has seen for a long time. This brings him comfort and they reconcile. After coming downstairs, Harriette asks Carl if he wants her to cancel the appointment with the college recruiter from Harvard. The day is saved when Rachel tells them to let her talk to him because she finds him attractive. Cast Main * Reginald VelJohnson as Carl Winslow * Jo Marie Payton as Harriette Winslow * Rosetta LeNoire as Estelle Winslow * Darius McCrary as Eddie Winslow * Kellie Shanygne Williams as Laura Winslow * Jaimee Foxworth as Judy Winslow * Joseph and Julius Wright as Richie Crawford * Telma Hopkins as Rachel Crawford Guest Recurring * Randy Josselyn as Rodney Beckett Gallery Straight A's.jpg Trivia * The first appearance of Eddie's friend, Rodney Beckett. Quotes :Carl: We've got to do something with Eddie. :Laura: I'm open. :Carl: Harriette, I'm worried about him. His studying skills are horrible. :Harriette: Carl, he just started his first semester in high school. He's adjusting. It took him a month to settle for a right three ring binder :Carl: Yes, and then he went out and bought 2-hole paper. Category:Episodes Category:Season One episodes Category:Season One Category:Trivia